Celebrity Cruises Dominate Cruise Critic Awards

Celebrity Cruises have enjoyed near total dominance at this year’s Cruise Critic awards, with ships from the fleet scooping seven of the 11 ship-specific awards. The Celebrity Equinox, Eclipse and Silhouette were amongst the large ship winners for the cruise line, scooping awards alongside ships from Royal Caribbean, P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line.

The Celebrity Equinox was voted the overall best large ship on the seas, also winning in the Best for Dining and Best for Public Rooms categories. The Celebrity Eclipse also landed three titles: Best for Cabins, Best for Fitness and Best for Shore Excursions.

The mid-sized ship awards were dominated by the Oceania Riviera which scooped half of the 10 categories in a comprehensive display, including Best Overall ship. Disney Cruises, MSC Cruises, Holland America Line and Fred. Olsen also all won mid-size ship awards.

Saga, Fred. Olsen and Azamara split the small ship awards between them, topping four, three and three categories respectively. The Saga Sapphire scooped four awards by itself including Best Overall small ship.

Full list of winners:

Large Ships:

Best Overall – Celebrity Equinox

Best for Cabins – Celebrity Eclipse

Best for Dining – Celebrity Equinox

Best for Embarkation – P&O Aurora

Best for Entertainment – Norwegian Epic

Best for Fitness – Celebrity Eclipse

Best for Public Rooms – Celebrity Equinox

Best for Service – Emerald Princess

Best for Shore Excursions – Celebrity Eclipse

Best for Value – Celebrity Silhouette

Best for Families – Independence of the Seas

Mid-Sized Ships:

Best Overall – Oceania Riviera

Best for Cabins – Oceania Riviera

Best for Dining – Disney Magic

Best for Embarkation – Oceania Riviera

Best for Entertainment – MSC Lirica

Best for Fitness – Holland America Ryndam

Best for Public Rooms – Oceania Riviera

Best for Service – Oceania Riviera

Best for Shore Excursions – Fred. Olsen Balmoral

Best for Value – Fred. Olsen Balmoral

Small Ships:

Best Overall – Saga Sapphire

Best for Cabins – Saga Sapphire

Best for Dining – Saga Sapphire

Best for Embarkation – Saga Sapphire

Best for Entertainment – Azamara Journey

Best for Fitness – Azamara Quest

Best for Public Rooms – Azamara Quest

Best for Service – Fred. Olsen Black Watch

Best for Shore Excursions – Fred. Olsen Black Watch

Best for Value – Fred. Olsen Black Watch

The awards are based entirely upon reviews submitted throughout 2014 across three classes of ships based upon passenger capacity – Large (2,000+), Mid-Sized (1,200 – 1,999) and small (1,199 or fewer). The awards are held every year, given an up-to-date review of cruising patterns and cruise ship popularity.

Images sourced via Wikipedia Creative Commons and Flickr Creative Commons. Credits: Jeremy T. Hetzel,